On Saturday 15th October, Sufra NW London held their 2022 Strategy Day. We host a Strategy Day every 3 years to decide what next steps Sufra should take regarding our services, our priorities and our values.

This year’s event was held at Ark Elvin Academy and 50 people attended, including a real mix of our staff, volunteers and supporters:

The topics of discussion included:

• an overview of Sufra’s services from our service managers and an exploration of why we do the work that we do
• a quiz on poverty in the UK (did you know there are over 22 food aid organisations in Brent, but only 6 libraries and 8 family wellbeing centres?)
• stories from our volunteers and guests
• talks from Lucy Bannister (Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Sufra Trustee), Alex Colas (Brent Right to Food), Kristine Wellington (CVS Brent) and Andy Galloway (New Citizenship Project)
• group discussions about what Sufra could look like in 2030, in terms of services, advocacy, partnerships, expansion, etc.
• and speeches from our chair of trustees (Susan Crane) and our founding trustee (Aaseem Mulji)

Some of the more challenging discussion topics included:

• how food aid isn't the solution to food poverty
• the possibility of moving away from the food bank
• moving from a "consumer" to "citizen" mindset
• what opportunities do we have to campaign for change?
• what role can local councillors and politicians play?

Some of the ideas which came about were:

• a community shop where guests get to choose and pay for their food at a discounted price
• a pre-paid card which would allow for guests to shop where, when and what they like
• expanding into other boroughs such as Ealing or Harrow
• starting a podcast to talk about pressing issues
• encouraging our corporate partners to invest in Brent, a borough in which 92% of all businesses are small businesses

For more resources, videos and information from the day, please see below:

[embed]https://youtu.be/YQGo6ScTpPc[/embed]

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6If6_sGr-Q[/embed]

Slides from the day:

Slides from Andy Galloway's presentation (New Citizenship Project):

And last but not least, a huge thank you to Ark Elvin Academy for hosting us and to everyone who attended on the day - especially our guest speakers.